1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an angle adjustment device and an image forming apparatus, and more specifically, relates to support the angle adjustment device for an up-down rotation of an operation panel with respect to the main body and fix an up-down rotation angle of the operation panel with respect to the main body and further relates to the image forming apparatus having the angle adjustment device.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, an image forming apparatus such as copying machines and printer devices is equipped with an operation panel used by users to enter commands for executing jobs and display the image forming apparatus unit. Such an operation panel is generally fixed to a housing (on the main body) which contains components of the image forming apparatus. Fixing the operation panel may cause a light reflection depending on the positional relation between user view angle and room lighting device, undesirably degrading a visibility of the operation panel. To avoid such inconvenience, adjusting an angle of the operation panel to improve the visibility is enabled by an image forming apparatus having an angle adjustment device publicly known for example by JP-A-2004-198741.
However, it is assumed that a device disclosed in the above mentioned patent publication, after adjusting an angle of operation panel, keeps the angle for using the image forming apparatus. Thus, in case that such type of image forming apparatus is installed under a condition where it is used by any unspecified number of users, angle adjustment of operation panel may not be optimal for a specific user. Hereafter, assuming that an increase of peoples who use nursing-care tools such as wheel-chair, it is expected that operation panel visibility and operability when used from a low position is also required to assure. To answer this requirement, various types of angle adjustment device are being developed.
An example of such angle adjustment device is a device having a lock releasing button placed on both sides of the operation panel, the button being depressed with both hands so to change an angle of the operation panel while the button being held down. This type of angle adjustment device however needs both hands for lock releasing, thereby losing the operability for those who are using nursing-care tools. In addition, since the angle is adjusted while the button being depressed, a risk of pinching fingers makes this type of the device inconvenient.